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Retool is a platform for building internal tools. The Retool connector lets your Lovable app manage a Retool organization and embed existing Retool apps. It’s designed for team administration dashboards and portals that bring those tools together. Retool is available as an app + chat connector: one shared connection that works in Chats, in the project chat while you build, and in your published apps. With Retool, your app can:
  • List organization members and add people to groups
  • Manage groups and permissions
  • Browse apps, folders, and workflows
  • Read organization usage
  • Create single-use URLs to embed a Retool app
The connector does not run queries inside Retool apps or read data from their connected databases.

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Common use cases and example apps

These examples show what you can build with Retool, each with a prompt to start from.

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How to connect Retool

Who can create Retool connections depends on your plan and workspace settings. App + chat connectors are available by default. On Business and Enterprise plans, Who can create connections and clients starts at Admins. Some Enterprise workspaces start at No one, which disables the connector. An admin or owner changes it in Connectors → Admin settings → App + chat connectors. You can create multiple Retool connections using different access tokens, for example, to connect separate organizations or give projects different permissions. When the connection is created, you can link it to the projects where you want to use it. Anyone building in a project can ask Lovable in the project chat to link their project to it. Linking follows the connection’s access rules.

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Prerequisites

Before connecting Retool, make sure you have:
  • A Retool Cloud or self-hosted organization with an HTTPS address that Lovable can reach
  • A Retool API access token created by an organization admin, as described in Step 1
  • Permission to create connections in your Lovable workspace (see Who can create connections and clients)
Your Retool plan and the token’s scopes determine which operations your app can use. Check the Retool API reference for the operations you need.

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Step 1: Get a Retool access token

A Retool access token grants access to your organization. Choose scopes, the permissions attached to the token, for the tasks your app needs.
1

Open your Retool organization

Sign in to your Retool organization as an organization admin.
2

Create an access token

Go to Settings → Retool API and click Create new. Enter a name and description that identify the connection, for example Lovable integration.
3

Choose scopes

Select the permissions your app needs. For example, listing organization members needs users:read. Grant write access only for the changes your app needs to make.See Retool’s authentication and scope guide for the available permissions.
4

Copy the token

Save the token and copy it to a secure location. Retool displays the token only once.
Your access token functions like a password. Keep it secure and never share it publicly. You need it in the next step.

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Step 2: Connect Retool to Lovable

Create the connection with your organization address and the token from Step 1.
1

Open Retool in Connectors

Open Connectors and select Retool. For the other places to open the catalog from, see Where to find connectors.
2

Add a connection

Click Connect on the connector page to open the connection form.
3

Name the connection

Under Details, Lovable fills in a name for the connection, which you can change. The name is only used inside Lovable to identify the connection.
4

Configure the connection

Under Configure connection, enter these required fields:
  1. Instance URL: your Retool organization’s HTTPS address, for example https://your-org.retool.com or https://retool.yourdomain.com for a self-hosted instance. Use the organization address without an app or API path.
  2. Access token: paste the Retool API access token from Step 1.
5

Choose who can use this connection

Under Sharing, the connection is private to you by default and shows a Private label. To share it, click Share with others. Then add workspace members by email, or click Invite entire workspace to make the connection available to everyone in your Lovable workspace.See Who can use connections and clients for more information.
6

Connect

Click Connect at the bottom of the form. Lovable checks the token against the Retool API before saving the connection.Retool can accept the token while denying a request because of its scopes or your Retool plan.Lovable confirms that the connection is created.
When connected, anyone building in a project can ask Lovable in the project chat to link their project to Retool. Linking follows the connection’s access rules. Your Lovable apps can then use the Retool operations your token and plan allow.

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Embed a Retool app

Your Lovable app can create a single-use URL that signs a person into an embedded Retool app. API-authenticated embedding requires a Retool Business or Enterprise plan and a token with embedding permission. Prepare the Retool app and its permission groups using the guide for your app type:
  • Retool apps: publish the app and allow your Lovable app’s domain to embed it. API authentication supports Retool Cloud organizations on standard Retool domains, such as your-org.retool.com. Self-hosted instances and custom-domain organizations do not support this flow for this app type.
  • Retool classic apps: follow the classic-app setup for embedding and custom authentication.
After linking the connection, tell Lovable which Retool app to embed and which permission group each signed-in person should use. Retool bills embedded users according to your Retool plan.

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Limitations

The Retool connector cannot:
  • Run queries inside Retool apps or read data directly from their connected resources
  • Trigger workflows through Retool’s separate webhook API
  • Import or convert a Retool app into a Lovable app
  • Create or list Retool API access tokens
  • Let each person using your app connect their own Retool organization. Each connection uses one access token across the projects linked to it.

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Manage your Retool connection

Connections are managed from Connectors: select Retool, then open the connection.
  • Unlink projects to remove Retool access from specific projects while keeping the connection available for others. See Unlink projects from a connection for the steps.
  • Delete the connection to remove it from the workspace entirely. Deleting is permanent. It removes the credentials from all linked projects, and app features that use Retool stop working until a new connection is added. See Delete a connection for the steps and who can delete.